In the pursuit of Beauty

Ah!! the sheer Ego of my small mind, writing this article as if it's going to be read by millions. What the heck! I will write all my posts as if they were going in a popular magazine :-)Most of the women out there will be able to relate instantly to my experience and if any guys are reading this. Well, keep on reading and then you will understand why the cosmetic and related industries are a multi billion dollar business and how women (who really consider themselves a superior and smarter gender than men in general) can be gullible and rather stupid when it comes to their vanity (oh yes!! ladies let's be honest and admit, we are vain and wish do me the fairest of all...even if we will never admit it..nevaaa!!)Let's begin from...umm! the begining I guess. It all started when I heard my sisters discuss the virtues of an expensive hair dryer versus the common drugstore brands. My first reaction was thinking yeah right!! it is afterall a dryer and being an intelligent and savvy consumer I would never get sucked into such marketing fads. Of course I didn't say as much to them.Well, after a couple of weeks of listening to them tout the multiple benefits of a nice brand name dryer (which would set your bankbook back anywhere from a $100-$350) I was quite suitably impressed. Hence began my own research for the best hair dryer. After spending several hours and days reading various reviews and sites etc (now keep in mind people, this is the time I could have used productively doing any of the umpteen household chores or spending time with my kids or helping out my poor dear husband with some work around the house), I decided that it was definitely time for me to invest in a good hair dryer as well. Afterall if my younger sisters (who by the way would be hot even if they were wrapped in a sackcloth) were all 'gung ho' on getting one and were going to have super sleek stylish hair, why on the earth would I stay and watch from the sidelines. I read and reread as many blogs and reviews I could find on two of the famous brands - Chi and T3. Now keep in mind that three weeks ago I had never even heard of these. The more I read the more images my mind whipped up of my straight, limp hair that usually does it's own thing going all sleek and voluminous, changing me from a plain jane to a beautiful hottie who manages to look like a million bucks with such little effort. Of course I should also mention that my little sister had bought the Chi PRO dryer in the meantime. After seeing how it had transformed her hair into a sleek and shiny mass of perfect coiffure, I was even more determined to get one. It seemed to be the only thing holding me back, if I had it my life would be so perfect....well, my hair would be perfect anyways (never mind the untidy house, unfinished renovations and career thoughts). So now that I had decided to spend my hard earned money on a piece of magical equipment, I needed to find a retailer that was local and sold nice brand name dryers. For those of you who are thinking, "Lady!! why not just get one from Ebay or order one online since they are on sale and you can get it for much less".........let me explain. You see I had to use cash money (that I have saved over the months from gifts received for b'days and Christmas etc) and could not use my credit card or a check. Afterall I am sure I would not want to give my darling husband a stroke or a heart attack and believe you me, he most definitely would get one if he saw a purchase 300 freaking dollars for a single hair dryer. Actually it would be kind of funny to see his reaction..Nah!! that will be just plain cruel you see for he is a guy who doesn't spend a dime unless he really really has to. His shoes and shirts literally have holes in them before he would buy new ones or wear the ones that I get for him. So after very happily finding out that there was a Sephora store right here in my city in the West Edmonton Mall, I simply couldn't wait or swallow another morsel (not counting the icecream, pack of chocolates, bag of chips, mac & cheese from my little one's plate and a few other titbits) it was Friday before a long weekend and I had a meeting with DESTINY!! I was going to turn into this Goddess that has been hiding inside my plain jane appearance. Saturday afternoon came and off I went to the mall, dragging my tired five year old in my wake. Now looking for a store in that giant mall is not piece of cake my friends and neither is trying to find parking, for that matter. Finanlly I saw it, the brilliantly decked out reps with copious amounts of makeup on their faces smiled at us as we entered a very busy store. Countless items ranging from perfumes to lipsticks to tons of other products that I haven't had a chance to know (yet!). After asking for directions I headed off to the appliance section, somewhat deflated to find only a couple of T3 dryers on the shelf. As I was about to make a u-turn a very helpful rep came over and gave me a long schpeil of this dryer's benefits and how it would turn even the drabbest of locks into sinfully shiny healthy hair. So after standing in the long line up for 35minutes I dished out three crisp $100 bills (so long my gift money..sob!) and was a very proud owner of a T3 featherweight dryer. Away I went with a spring in my step and dangling my new purchase on my arm as if declaring to the world, "Here comes a Diva who shops in only the best of the best stores" (since the sales lady had said that it was owned by Louis V and they only kept best of the best). Good thing my little one holds on to my hand rather tight or I am sure I would have forgotten all about her in my rush home to try out my new magical equipment. Finally we were home and I could take a shower (after yelling at my poor husband to turn the water main on and fix the damn! shower faucet so it wouldn't leak and we wouldn't have to leave the water main turned off). A quick shampoo and condition with another one of my 'impressed by the ad' purchase - Head & Shoulder's S & C. Didn't even bother dressing as I was so impatient to try the dryer. Even the wrapping and the box was so impressive people. They put your purchase in a gift bag with tissue paper and all.....nice!!Praise the lord!! I finally had in my hands a $277 appliance that was going to transform me into a hottie with locks to die for. Hmmm!! I was told this dryer works faster but it actually took me 20min instead of usual 12min to dry my hair but then again to be fair I was sectioning my hair and using a brush to get some volume at the bottom. So far so good, the hair fell into place and looked rather nice. So off I went on my grocery shopping and other chores with my beautiful bouncy hair. Lo and behold even mother nature was happy with my hair, the temprature was a balmy 3 degree celsius, we were out of the deep freeze of -40.c, I was the goddess of my realm, I was..................BRAKES!!!! screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeccccccccccccccchh! What the HE_ _!!! my hair was back to it's usual limp straight state and not just that but it lacked the usual shine that it has without adding any products. Maybe I needed a closer look, I looked in all the three mirrors and sure enough even in the sunlight my hair had no sheen. It looked dried out, not frizzy but still dried out for sure. POOF!!! out went my air of self confidence and back I came tired and dreary. This time I logged on and googled the negative reviews on my beautiful T3 Tourmoline from Bespoke Labs and sure enough found many other people who found the same results. Very surprising considering it's said to give your hair a healthy shine. I guess not all hair is made the same and some of us just won't reap benefits of this new Ionic tourmoline technology. Sigh!! back I went to mall, this time with heavy heart and leaden steps to return my brand new T3. Good folks at Sephora did raise an eyebrow at my comments about why I wanted to return it but took it back without any gumption. Felt much better, I sure did. Afterall if I was going to have just ordinary hair, I could do that job with my $30 Conair. Lesson learned?!!! Not so fast my friends because you see, as I was about to leave the store, I happened to see a whole section devoted to the 'Bare Minerals' make-up.....DING DING DING!!! Close to a $100 it sure is expensive for a foundation but hey!! what's mere money in pursuit of beauty eh!!Well, my dear readers I am now on a whole new research path and looking into the perfect foundation that will hide my dark eye circles and broken capillaries and all imperfections and give me the face of an angel :-)